Tuesday Tough Grrrrllll

I'm happy to be back in some what of a groove with running and fitness! Based on my "overnight activity" (nursing 2 - 3 times) I've only managed one early morning in the last week, but thankfully I've found ways to work runs and strength training into my life in other ways.

For instance, on Tuesday & Thursday mornings I only have 2 babies with me (Gabriel & his 12-month-old buddy). Since they both take morning naps, I have been able to work a yoga session in. I either do a Yoga Zone workout from Hulu or I do "Ten Minute Yoga Solution" off of Netflix. (Don't let the "10 minutes" fool you... there are 5 ten minute segments that work different parts... it's NOT easy, especially since my parts are still a bit floppy and postpartum-y!) I've also taken to doing squats, push ups, lunges and calf raises at random intervals through out my days whenever I think of it. I really intend to making this "reset" of my running life include strength training... which normally I am SO bad about!

Tuesday & Thursday training partners.

Running-wise, I have been focusing on time (30 or 40 minutes) instead of distance. I couldn't, however, fail to notice that in my "long" run on Saturday morning I did not-quite-4 miles in 40 minutes. I'm not delusional... I know that's not fast... but given that it was on the hilly roads of my neighborhood, I felt very good about it.

On Mother's Day, we went to the local track/playground/soccer/lacrosse/baseball/etc. fields so the boys could practice riding bikes. (One of my regrets in life is that we have to put bikes in the car in order to ride them. Blasted sidewalk-less/shoulder-less/danger-ous rural roads!) While Scott helped Tommy master the 2-wheeler (with success!), Elliott tooled around on his training wheels, and Gabriel snoozed in his car seat, I ran a mile on the track (no watch timing me.... I'm not a glutton!) and then did THIS fairly killer strength plan found on Another Mother Runner. The workout calls for doing it 3 -5 times... I managed to do it just 2x through! But, I threw in a couple of "sprints" for good measure. I'll definitely be trying it again soon.

I also got some bonus time at the track yesterday because Tommy really wanted to head back over there to practice riding his bike again. I did a (speedy-for-me) 20 minutes and considering it was meant to be a rest day, I am pleased about that for sure.

There's a chance I'll be running a 5K on June 2nd with my friends Megan, Mandy & John.... Haven't decided for sure if I'm going to forgo church obligations that day, though I'm leaning on worshipping in my Brooks and a racing bib, if you know what I mean.

Finally, I had refused to "waste" money on new running shoes while I was pregnant. On Friday I called the closest shoe store and was THRILLED to find out that they now carry Brooks. So, I got a new pair of kicks and have solved the mysterious achy knee problem. (That's one lesson I've FINALLY learned in running: old shoes can cause real problems.) I've run pain-free 3 days in a row so yahoo for fresh sneaks!

There was a prettier, purple pair but I did the grown up thing and bought the pair that felt better!

Running While Pregnant: Week 16

I really can't complain about Week 16. I've felt pretty good and manage to, at times, not feel pregnant. I'm still not up for 5AM runs but it occurs to me that adjustments to my life allow me to squeeze in 30 minutes of running several times a week, which is, quite frankly, enough. Well, as long as I get an hour or so in on the weekends I think it's enough.

Here's what I did...

Tuesday: 20 minute run/walk. I did this workout while the kids were at their hour-long theater arts class. It was meant to be a 30 minute run but I found my legs were totally dead. As I was running I realized that it was my fourth day in a row running and I immediately gave myself permission to feel a little tired. So, I walked some/ran some. Got some sweat going and a decent heart rate so I was happy with it.

Wednesday: I learned a lesson from Tuesday and took a rest day. Aside from racing around the yard with the kids, I didn't workout.

Thursday: I had to break up the workout into a couple of pieces. This was the evening of the final dress rehearsal for Little Shop of Horrors so I couldn't count on a solid piece of time in the late afternoon/evening. When I got the two littlest kids down for a nap at about 1PM I plugged Elliott into Caillou and did about 10 minutes of laps around the house. Just enough to take the edge off of my day. I squeezed in another 20 minutes or so playing tag with my boys around the house after school. Pregnant running math adds with up to a solid 30 minute run. And you wouldn't mess with a pregnant woman's math, would you?

Friday: This was opening night for Little Shop. Earlier in the day I did a series of strength training exercises on the swing set (see video below).  I was a little stressed out and had made a plan to go running in the late afternoon before the cast call time. But, one of the kiddos was picked up late and I couldn't get Tom & Elliott dropped off to Scott in time. So... I decided to be a little bit late to make up call and be a LOT more sane. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and quickly showered and zoomed to the theater.

Saturday: One hour. S-l-o-w. The most memorable thing about this run was how miserable my bladder was. I don't even think I went 6 miles and I peed TWICE along the way and it was a photo finish coming back to the house. It hurt and it was all I could think about as I chugged along. Wait a pain in the... bladder.

Sunday: Planned to run. Didn't. Too much to do before the matinee and too pooped afterward. It was a pretty good week so I had no guilt about it.

Monday: I had another plan that fell through. My car was in the shop so I needed to pick up Scott from school around 5PM. The plan was to have him drop me off about 4 miles from home on the way back so I could chug back and get a really solid weekday run in. It ocurred to me that if my car was done getting fixed that was an idiotic plan... as I would need to drive a car back to the house. So, I did another loop after loop after loop around my yard. To break things up a bit I did 5 laps slow, 5 laps fast, 5 laps slow... for thirty minutes. It worked pretty well and, of course, my car WASN'T done so I could have gone with Plan A. Oh, well...

Now, enjoy some updated belly photos. You have my FULL permission to laugh your a** off. No, Tommy did NOT tell me I had enormous pit stains. Cracks me up.

He kinda missed my face in this one.

Tommy thought I should show my belly with the shirt up. I guess he was afraid people wouldn't believe it was real...?

Aside from the pit stain, I actually think this is nice photo of me!

Here's a bit Tommy helped me record. I'm no trainer but I thought I'd show a few of the things I do while I'm hanging out with the kiddos on the swing set. You'd be surprised how many reps and sets you can get in between giving pushes on the swing, scolding kids for going UP the slide instead of down...